Yttrium Arc
by The Pig With A Pen
Summary: With the ordeal of the Gem ship behind them, Steven and the Crystal Gems return to the Beach House before continuing the search for Peridot and Malachite. However, a new visitor to Beach City attracts the Gem's attention, and forces them to question if they're as ready they think they are.


A quick note:

The events of this story begin after the episode "Friend Ship".

 **Chapter 1 – A New Face in Town**

"So..." Pearl said, her voice trailing as she narrowed her eyes at the screen.

"Hmm?" Steven replied, patting his knees to the rhythm of the show.

"The waffle is crying because he was having his lunch, but the pear accidentally ate his chaaps..."

"Yes?"

"And the pear is crying because he didn't know the chaaps belonged to the waffle?"

"Right?"

"So why is the bacon crying?"

"What? Bawling Bacon was the one who wanted everybody to sit down and eat together." Steven explained, now leaning back and forth with the theme. "Because they had the argument earlier? Don't you remember?"

"Oh..." Pearl said, shifting her eyes. "Yes. How could I forget?"

A quiet moment passed by in the beach house, the sobbing of fruits and grains only disturbed by the gentle blow of the wind and the soft crashing of waves against the shore in the distance. It had been a slow morning so far. Amethyst had gone out to visit Vidalia, and Garnet had already left the temple when Steven woke up. She had apparently left sometime during the night, and Pearl had no idea where she was. It had worried Steven at first, but Pearl more than hastily assured him that nothing was wrong and they were still speaking to each other.

Life in Beach City was going on as it ever had. Peridot had been keeping quiet ever since the encounter at the Gem ship, and Malachite was nowhere to be found. Even the corrupted gems seemed to be keeping to themselves, and so there was nothing to do but train, visit the Big Donut, and watch Crying Breakfast friends.

A seagull cried off in the distance.

"Ok," Pearl suddenly exclaimed, an annoyed tone punctuating her voice as her hand gestured haplessly at the screen. "Why is the milk crying?"

"Well," Steven replied, turning to face Pearl, an eager look in his eyes. "That's actually a little more complex, and I have a few theories on it. Some say Spilled Milk cries a lot because he's spoiled, but you see-".

Unfortunately, Steven was immediately cut off as the warp pad flared to life. Steven and Pearl turned just in time to see the light fade, revealing Garnet, standing silent and still, on the pad.

"Garnet's back!" Steven suddenly exclaimed, jumping up and racing to meet her.

"Steven! Don't run down the stairs!" Pearl yelled in her stern yet worried voice. She got up to follow, but her eyes suddenly tracked to the television set. Her eyes shifted back down to Steven, who was excitedly asking Garnet about where she had been. Pearl calmly turned the TV off without looking back at the screen, only to pause again before nudging it with her foot until the screen faced the wall.

"I was so worried about you! Where did you go?" Steven asked excitedly, his eyes full of wonder. "Did you bring back anything cool?"

Garnet didn't reply at first; she simply peeled a strip of seaweed off of her hair before smoothing it back.

"I had an idea of where Malachite might be," she replied, her voice a tranquil monotone. "So I went to check it out. Turned out to be nothing."

She looked down to Steven, and a grin on her face.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I'm just looking for now. If I find anything, I'll come straight back and get you." She rustled Steven's hair with her hand, and then turned her attention to Pearl.

Her smile faded, and Pearl, though she probably tried to hide it, had a sudden uncomfortable look; perhaps things weren't quite back to the way they were before.

"Is everything alright here?" Garnet suddenly asked. Pearl didn't answer at first. She hadn't been expecting the question.

"What?" she replied, hesitantly. "Oh, yes. We were just watching some… 'shows' while we waited for you to get back."

"I see," Garnet replied. Her eyes were hidden, but Pearl had the distinct feeling that she wasn't looking at her, and that the other Gem's mind was focused on something else.

"What's the matter?" Steven asked, as he suddenly caught on to Garnet's shift in mood. A worried expression crept onto his face, and in the back of his mind he started to wonder if something had happened between the two again.

Garnet didn't respond at first; she simply stared vacantly for a moment before turning to look down at the boy. She wanted to deflect the question; she had rushed back to double check on the house, but it had turned out to be nothing. The last thing she wanted was to needlessly worry him.

Then her mind flashed back to the Keystone Diner, and she forced herself to remember that Steven wasn't the same boy from long ago who thought his Gem power was fueled by frozen cat treats.

"I had a vision and got this sense that something had happened," she eventually explained, turning her head to look around the room. "Something really bad. I couldn't be certain, and with everything that's gone on lately I wanted to be sure." She paused again, as if considering the possibilities. "You're sure nothing happened while I was away?"

"Nothing, really," Pearl replied. "We've been listening for if anything came up, but it's been quiet all morning."

"Garnet?" Steven asked. "What's wrong? What did you see?"

Her fists clenched, and Steven suddenly stopped feeling worried and started feeling uncomfortable. Even with the glasses covering her eyes, he could almost still see Garnet's brow furrowing. Her head tilted slightly.

The door suddenly slammed open.

"Steven!" someone shouted; a boy. The group turned to look at the door, only to find Peedee standing there, his hands on his knees and his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

"Oh," Pearl said, a tone of surprise on her voice, and a hint of relief that the conversation had changed. "Steven, isn't this one of your friends?"

"Peedee?" Steven asked. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"My brother!" Peedee gasped. "Steven, something's happened to Ronaldo!"

Steven went to meet him at the door, when Peedee suddenly reached forward and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"He said he was going out to do some 'important investigation for the good of the war', or something like that, but that was two days ago! Now we can't even find him! We've been looking for him, but I've got a really bad feeling about all of this!"

"Don't worry," Garnet suddenly interjected. She knelt down next to the boys. Peedee turned to her, and she let a small grin on her face. Just like Steven wasn't the Cookie Cat eating boy anymore, she wasn't quite the blank statue that she used to be either.

"We'll help you find him."

The group was in Beach City and searching without much delay. They spent the early afternoon asking anyone they could find about Ronaldo. However, nobody knew where he was, or that he was missing at all.

Some time passed, and the group decided to split up. Pearl and Peedee would cover the docks, Garnet and Steven would search the pier, and the two groups would meet up after they were done and start searching the inside of the city.

By the time they got to the pier, business was closing up and people were heading home for the evening. Within minutes, it was just the two of them, silently walking along. The upper deck turned out to be clear, so they made their way down to explore the sandy area beneath the pier.

Their search passed in relative silence as the two looked among the wooden columns. The initial panic from Peedee bursting in had faded by now, and things were moving at a calmer pace. Steven examined a small rock, rolling it in his hand before tossing back into the sand.

"Garnet; can we talk?" he asked suddenly.

Garnet visibly reacted, but she didn't reply. She remained kneeling for a moment, running her fingers through the sand, before casually wiping it from her fingertips and standing.

"I though the whole thing between you and Pearl was… fixed."

"It is," she responded, flatly. "Why are you still worried about this?"

"But it's not! I still see it; you both get along now, but it's weird. It's like you're only pretending that it's fine."

"It's not quite like that that." She took a short breath, almost like a sigh, and let it out before going on.

"I know it looks like we're still not talking, and that I'm still angry, but we have put what happened behind us. It's still just feels strange at times, to think that this ever happened to begin with." Garnet gave a quick wave to Steven and began walking towards the stairs leading back to the upper part of the pier.

"Pearl and I have known each other for a very long time, Steven," she continued. "And in all that time it never, ever occurred to me that she and Amethyst were so eager to fuse with me because they wanted to feel stronger. We've always had some other reason or a cause to do it, but now I can't help but wonder about those reasons." She looked down to her hands, Ruby in the palm of one and Sapphire in the other. "Or if it was ever really necessary at all."

"But it is, sometimes! And it can't keep going like this. Things have to eventually get better."

"Things will get better," she reassured. "In time. I just have to think some things through is all." They reached the top of the stairs and were met with the cool, slightly foul scented breeze of the pier. Pearl and Peedee were in the distance; Pearl waved to them and they started heading over to meet them. Garnet gave a short wave back. "Just give it time."

"So I should just ignore it?" Steven asked.

"No; just don't worry about it," she corrected. Steven suddenly noticed that Garnet wasn't aimlessly gazing ahead now; here stare was fixed on Pearl. The corner of her mouth pulled back into a small, unintentional grin. "I have a feeling things are going to get better from here on out."

Pearl and Peedee made it over to them shortly, only to report that they hadn't found anything; the docks were just as empty as the pier. Peedee's usual dramatic seriousness was nowhere to be found, and his spirits were visibly at an all time low.

"Don't worry; we still have to search the city." Pearl offered, awkwardly setting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you're sure you don't know anything else?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, his eyes trailing around the road one last time before looking back down to the ground. "He just said something about a 'person of suspect', and ran off witho-"

"Hush," Garnet interrupted. "Did you hear that?"

The group fell silent, but all that they could hear was the sound of wind and the murmur of the ocean.

Then, a weak shout came from further in the city.

The group immediately took off running down the road, winding left and right through the streets of the city with every new yell. Soon, the pier was far behind and the path went into alleys between buildings. They turned the last corner, just in time to see someone enter through a door at the far end of an alleyway.

"Who is that?" Steven asked. "I don't think I've ever seen him before."

"No idea," Peedee replied, shaking his head.

The group set off down the alleyway and soon reached the same door. Garnet gave the handle a quick turn, only to find that it was jammed. A voice suddenly started up inside; Ronaldo's voice. Their goal was clear, and Garnet gave the door a strong shove.

The thing broke off its hinges, a resounding crash echoing through the alley as it hit the ground, revealing the dimly lit storage room on the other side. Across the room sat Ronaldo, apparently unharmed, glaring at as his captor as he shouted accusations. He was so singularly focused on the man that he hadn't noticed the door.

"Who are you?" Ronaldo demanded, jabbing a trembling finger at the man. "And why are you keeping me here? Do you think I'll betray my people to you, or is it all just because it amuses you? Well it's been a day and you've not broken me with your strange tactics! I will not succumb to hunger, I will prevail, and I will learn whatever it is you're hiding from me!"

"Ronaldo!" Peedee cried suddenly. Ronaldo's eyes suddenly fell on the group, his face masked by confusion that momentarily turned into relief. However, almost as an afterthought, his face turned to irritation.

"No, brother!" Ronaldo warned. "You have to go! I can take care of this! I've almost got what I came for!"

"What you came for?" Pearl asked, an eyebrow raised. "You mean you came here on your own?"

Peedee tried to run to his brother, but Garnet's hand clamped on his shoulder, keeping him in place. The boy struggled for a moment, but turned his focus back to yelling at his brother.

"Do you mean you could have just left at any time?" he demanded. "We've been worried about you! What are you thinking?"

"I keep telling you about what's out there!" Ronaldo chided. "And about the strange things that come with these 'Crystal Gems', but none of you will listen. This was my chance to prove it to you!"

"What?" Peedee said, his voice exasperated. "About the snaple? Fine, I believe you! Just come to us and lets get out of here!"

Ronaldo's eyes narrowed.

"'Snerson'," he corrected. "Plural form 'sneeple', or properly 'snersons'. Not 'snaple'! And it's not just that! Something bigger is going on! They have creatures to do their bidding now! Horrible, evil creatures that draw their power from our very own earth gems!"

"Now, now," Pearl suddenly interjected, taking a step forward. "This is all just getting a little out of hand. Your family is worried about you, and this person is clearly just a deranged 'hobo', or 'homeless man', as you… as we call them. So let's just all go home and we can leave matters to the police." Pearl paused a second. "Or not, since I don't think he's actually done anything to you. Or if there are any police here at all. Maybe we should just let you work this out with Mayor Dewey… or Mr. Smiley?" She suddenly turned towards Steven. "Or Mr. Maheswaran? Does he still work in Beach City?"

Then, in an instant, the scene was pierced by a quiet but unforgettable whine. It was an airy, rasping cry, marred by the sickening undertone of a guttural cry, and it was coming directly from the man in the center of the room.

The man that hadn't moved since they had come into the storage room. The man hadn't even seem to register that there were other people there at all. Now, however, the man was slowly turning to face Steven and the group.

The figure continued turning, but even as he did, he began to change. He began to grow, first just uniformly but then seemingly at random as areas of his body bulged out against his clothes. Rags started to unfurl from beneath the sides of his coat, shortly followed by his bandaged hands.

The sound steadily grew louder, raising from its initial whisper into a cry, and as its face finally came into view the simple truth became apparent. The truth that Garnet had suspected, wanted to believe was wrong, and had chosen to ignore.

The man had no face, but instead a mass of intertwined and bandaged arms, hands and feet, contorted into the shape of a head. As it grew more its coat began to tear at the seams, and the few, feebly attached buttons on the front broke off, revealing a gem.

The fused gems of the Kindergarten cluster.

"Get back!" Garnet commanded, pushing Peedee behind her and towards the door. In a flash, her gauntlets were ready, and she was leaping at the creature.

But it knew what was coming; it remembered their last encounter. With a deep rumble, its coat finally tore off completely, and with a new swarm of appendages it swatted Garnet from the air. She was hurled into the nearby wall, which nearly gave way from the blow. Through the settling dust, Garnet began pushing herself back to her feet as she yelled a single world: "Pearl!"

Pearl, however, could do nothing but stare. They had told her and Amethyst about the larger clusters, but they had not seen it; Pearl hadn't been prepared for the mutilated corpse of her kind that stood before her. The creature began to move towards Pearl, but it turned its attention as it heard the sounds of Garnet making another charge. It met her head on this time, grappling with her as she tried to get at its gem and tear it apart again.

"Pearl! Snap out of it!" Steven suddenly cried. He grabbed at her arm and she turned to look at him, her eyes vacant. "We need you!"

There was no response for a second, but then suddenly, as though something had clicked in her mind, Pearl's attention was on Steven, and the look of horror had been changed to one of conviction. She gave him a quick nod, and in an instant she was leaping towards the creature, her spear in hand.

The thing was still holding Garnet back, pushing her away while folding its arms in front of its chest, shielding its core. Pearl darted at it from the side, quickly slashing downward. It reacted, but much too slow. The strike severed the arms that were holding Garnet at bay, and with a strong right she sent the creature flying through the opposite wall.

There was a terrific crack as the stone broke, and the wail of the creature faltered as part of the wall collapsed out onto it. The cry immediately resumed, but this time becoming ever more more faint by the second; the creature was on the run. Garnet and Pearl immediately ran out to chase it down, leaving Steven, Peedee, and Ronaldo alone. The building gave a low rumble of warning, and the three immediately ran out through the hole the creature had made, never stopping to look back at the structure as it slowly collapsed.

They caught up to the others shortly after; the fight had spilled out onto the main street, and one by one the lights of beach city were flicking on.

Pearl ran straight at the cluster, taking a low swipe at it. The thing went in to block, but was caught off guard as Pearl instead leaped into the air, using the force of her swing to spin and stab the weapon straight towards the beast's gem. The spear plunged into its makeshift armor, and the creature let out another low rumble. Pearl tried to pull the spear back, but before she was able several of the arms grabbed it and pulled it further into its mass. Pearl was jerked towards the creature, which immediately began grabbing at her to pin her.

Garnet seized the distraction and charged it's flank. Her hands clenched together, and with a hard upward swing she slammed into the underbelly of the cluster. The force of the blow lifted the thing off the ground and it lost its hold on Pearl. She fell to the ground with a dull thud, but didn't move. Garnet prepared herself to charge again, but stopped when she noticed her fellow gem laying prone.

"Pearl!" she cried suddenly, rushing towards her. Pearl didn't reply, but simply stared straight towards the sky, her eyes wide open and mouth agape. Garnet lifted the other Gem to her feet, holding her by the shoulders and meeting her stare head on.

"Are you alright?" Garnet asked. Pearl gradually regained her composure and met Garnet's eyes. She gave a weak nod, her mouth slowly closed, and she took a deep breath through her nose. She was back, but still visibly shaken. She soon had another spear in her hand, and the two were charging the creature again.

It recovered in time to see the assault, and it immediately threw up more arms to cover itself. Pearl was undeterred, and took a leaping stab at the thing's gem with her spear. Garnet was close behind, and when the creature deflected the spear it was met with another hard right hook. The force shoved the thing backwards, and after a few feet it lost its balance and toppled over.

By now the flickering lights of the city had given way to its citizens; people were starting to assemble in the street. A hushed murmur spread through the crowd. There had always been a sort of unspoken acceptance of the weird events that came with the Gem's, but the recent appearance of a space ship turned that unspoken understanding into an uncomfortable acknowledgment. The fight in the street only furthered that.

The thing regained its composure and slowly pulled itself up. There was no recovery for it this time; Garnet and Pearl were already upon it, prying the things arms loose to finish the fight.

Steven, Peedee and Ronaldo simply watched from the distance; Steven had long since felt the fight was out of his hands, and he felt a sense of helplessness as he saw the outcome.

It was then that he noticed something odd. The cluster's wail had silenced, leaving only the murmur of the crowd. After a moment, everyone had noticed the sudden quiet. The crowd subsided, and even Pearl and Garnet had halted their attack.

The creature moved, as if it were looking around rather than fighting back. It leaned slightly towards the crowd, and instead of a wail or a rumble it made a short, sort of warbling noise. It then tilted the opposite direction until it came to stop in front of a glass door, and it caught its reflection.

Time seemed to stop then and there, and before a word could be said, the cluster exploded into a smoke that quickly dissipated, leaving only Pearl and Garnet clutching the fused gem cluster.

After some time and quite a few public announcements by Mayor Dewey concerning the demolition of the storage unit and "official gem business", the crowd dissipated. Ronaldo and Peedee went back with their father, despite some complaints about 'an unresolved investigation', and Steven went back to the temple with the other gems.

When they arrived, they found Amethyst had already arrived and was waiting on them. However, Garnet offered no greeting and went immediately to the temple door. Amethyst looked from Garnet to Pearl, and on seeing the still slightly horrified look on the Gem's face she tilted her head back and let out a long and tired groan.

"Are you two STILL going on?" she sighed. "Look; I get you're still mad, but this can't keep going on. Didn't you two make up?"

Garnet didn't reply; she simply opened the door and walked into one of the many rooms it lead to. The others walked up to Amethyst, and Pearl slumped silently onto the couch. She stared vacantly at the table for a second before responding.

"That's not..." she muttered, but the words died in her throat. The bravery brought on by the battle was long gone, and Pearl was now under the full effect of what she had encountered tonight.

"Oh come on, Pearl." Amethyst insisted. "You've already more than made up for what happened. It's time to let-"

Pearl didn't speak, but she still managed to silence Amethyst with the simple motion of setting the cluster gem on the table. Amethyst slowly stopped mid sentence and stared blankly at the shards.

"That can't be...", Amethyst started.

"It is." Garnet confirmed as she walked back into the room. She reached the table and sat down on the floor, arms on her lap and stare fixed on the cluster. "It's the Kindergarten cluster; the bubble is missing from the room. It must have gotten out on its own somehow."

"How?" Steven asked. "How is that possible? I didn't think anything could get out."

"I don't know." Garnet said. "This has never happened before."

"But it happened now," Pearl said, breaking out of her stupor. "What if it happens again?"

There was no reply; they all just sat there, staring down at the shards. The gentle crash of the waves was audible in the distance, and after a few seconds, the gentle patter of rain started up against the roof. A breeze blew through the window.

"Did any of the other gems activate?" Amethyst asked.

"No," Garnet respond, giving a small shake of the head. "It looks like this was a single case; it got out on its own and immediately escaped."

"There are so many ways in and out of that room," Pearl muttered. "We've never had to worry about the bubbles breaking."

"So we can't keep it in that room," Garnet continued.

Without saying a word more, she grabbed the cluster, bubbled it, and got up to walk towards the temple door. When she neared it, it slid open to reveal a new room, one that Steven had never seen before.

It was a small, dome shaped room with nothing inside, almost like a closet of sorts. Garnet walked inside and set the bubbled gem in the center of the room, where if eerily floated in the dark.

"We'll have to keep a check on it." Pearl offered. "To make sure this doesn't happen again."

"And what if does happen again?" Steven asked.

"We'll just have to go after it."

With that, they turned away to turn in for the night. Before she left, Garnet turned around to take one last look at the thing, sitting in its pink bubble. Her face betrayed nothing, but the others could almost feel the air chill around her. The moment passed, and the door slid closed behind them, leaving the cluster to rest.


End file.
